This module provides an introduction to the study of linguistic typology, that is, the comparison of languages in terms of shared characteristics rather than historical relationships. We will examine cross-linguistic variation and recurring patterns in a number of features such as morphological type, constituent order, encoding of grammatical relations, word classes, and possession. We will also discuss methods of collecting data for typological research and their limitations, and critically review some of the explanations proposed for highly frequent or universal linguistic structures. Lectures and seminars will include many examples from lesser-known non-European languages, to exemplify and illustrate variation and universal tendencies. Students will conduct a project on a language previously unfamiliar to them, on the basis of published reference grammars and/or own fieldwork.